The State government has ordered allocation of Rs.5 lakh from the constituency development fund of each MLA for providing free assistive devices to differently abled persons in their respective constituencies, said T.P. Poonachi, Minister for Khadi and Village Industries, here on Saturday.

Inaugurating a special medical camp to assess the requirements of differently abled persons in Srirangam, Mr.Poonachi said differently abled persons, based on their requirements, would be provided tricycles, wheel chairs, artificial limbs, callipers, hearing aids, Braille watches, and other devices.

In each constituency, two severely disabled students or employed persons will be provided with motorised tricycles and two differently abled persons will be given modern hearing aids.

In Tiruchi district, 9,897 differently abled persons have been provided with welfare assistance worth Rs.12.07 crore during 2012-13. The government has removed the income ceiling for differently abled persons undergoing treatment under the Chief Minister’s Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme.

The government subsidy for self-employment for differently abled persons has been hiked to Rs.10,000 from Rs.3,000, he said.

As many as 492 differently abled persons participated in the medical camp and were screened by a team of doctors to assess their requirements. They will be provided with assistive devices based on the recommendations of the medical team. Seven differently abled persons were handed over motorised tailoring machines on the occasion. R.Manoharan, chief government whip, Jayashree Muralidharan, Collector, and A.Jaya, Mayor, participated.